Friday, March 29, 2013

NHL: Penguins Win 14th Straight

The Pittsburgh Penguins won their 14th straight game last night, shutting out the Winnipeg Jets, 4-0. Three of the 14 games were tied after regulation play, with the Pens winning two of them during the five-minute sudden-death overtime period and one in the post-overtime shoot-out (game-by-game log).

The longest winning streak in league history is also held by the Penguins franchise, as the 1992-93 squad won 17 straight. Looking at the Penguins' 1992-93 game-by-game log, we see that the winning streak occurred from March 9-April 10, 1993, and that two of the wins occurred in overtime.

Five-minute overtime was introduced in 1983-84, which meant games could still end as ties. Shoot-outs to determine a winner, if the overtime period had not, began in 2005-06 (click here for a history of hockey overtime rule changes).

In the pre-overtime era, in which games could end as ties after 60 minutes, the NHL record winning streak was 15 games by the 1981-82 New York Islanders (January 21-February 20, 1982). Arguably, the Islanders' streak is more impressive than the '92-'93 Penguins' streak, due to the overtime rule changes. Had the rules in '92-'93 been such that deadlocked games after regulation been entered into the books as ties, the Penguins would have won only 12 straight.

UPDATE: The Penguins extended their winning streak to 15 games, but then lost 4-1 to Buffalo on April 2.